Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Many people is about to start their Erasmus soon (some sooner than others, though) but, what is the main thing that you get from that experience?Mucha gente va a empezar su Erasmus pronto (algunos más pronto que otros) pero, ¿qué es lo más importante que te llevas de la experiencia?

Some people claim that it's about studying the less that you can and having party the more that you can. Well, you do have parties... a lot of parties. You do study less than at your home university (usually). But it's not that.Algunos dicen que es estudiar lo menos posible y tener las máximas fiestas posibles. Bueno, sí es cierto que tienes fiestas... muchas fiestas. También estudias menos, generalmente, que lo hacías en tu universidad de origen. Pero no es eso.

Some others claim that it is about having sex with all nationalities, almost like in a continuous orgy (some call it "Orgasmus", in fact) but, although many people do have sex, what happens often is that people bluffs a lot and maybe they had 1/4 of the sex that they claim.Otros dicen que la cosa va de tener sexo con gente de todas las nacionalidades, casi en una orgía continua (algunos lo llaman "Orgasmus", de hecho) pero, aunque mucha gente sí tiene sexo, lo que suele pasar es que la mayoría fardan mucho y han tenido una cuarta parte del sexo que afirman haber tenido.

You make many friends from many nationalities (at least you expect that :P) and you learn a new language (or improve one that you know, like English in our case). That's a big part of the experience, but it's not exactly that what you really get.Haces muchos amigos de muchas nacionalidades (al menos esperas eso :P) y aprendes un nuevo idioma (o mejoras otro que ya sabes, como el inglés en nuestro caso). Eso es una parte muy importante, pero no es exactamente lo que te llevas.

The main thing about being an Erasmus is that you get to know YOURSELF better. You meet many new people from many cultures and, from the picture that they get of you and comparing your culture with theirs, you learn more about how you really are. Maybe you didn't know that people use to think that you look (too) rude/polite/shy/arrogant/friendly... In some cases, you even discover that you are one of those things and you never realized you were.El aspecto más importante de ser un Erasmus es que te conoces mejor A TI MISMO. Conoces mucha gente nueva de diversas culturas y, a partir de la imagen que tienen de ti y comparando tu cultura con la suya, aprendes más de cómo eres en realidad. Quizá no sabías que la gente suele pensar que pareces (muy) borde/educado/tímido/chulo/simpático... En algunos casos, incluso descubres que eres una de esas cosas y nunca te habías dado cuenta de que lo fueras. Como bonus para los españoles, os recomiendo ver el vídeo de este enlace. Es un divertido retrato de la imagen de los Erasmus :D

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

I am as famous as a rock star!! (like Mike Potatortnoy, in the picture). Why? Because this years, my friends, is MY year. 2008 is FAO's International Year of the Potato. They've made a website in my honor, explaining all the facts about me. I am so proud... It's nice that people show their love to me.

Sunday, 27 July 2008

Instead of talking about Sweden, I am going to talk about Spain this time. Vigo is not actually my home city but, since I always answered I was "from a place beside Vigo" and it is a bit bigger than Mos (my home town), I will show you some thing about it.En lugar de hablar sobre Suecia, esta vez hablaré de España. Vigo no es mi ciudad natal en realidad pero, dado que siempre respondía que yo era de "un sitio al lado de Vigo" y es un poco más grande que Mos (mi pueblo natal), os enseñaré un poco sobre la ciudad.

As you can see on the picture, Vigo is close to the sea, beside one "ria" (the sea entering into a river... something similar as a fjord, but in a smaller way) and with the sea is deeply linked: fishing, harbour, tourism... most of the city's incomes are related with it.Como podéis ver en la foto, Vigo está al lado del mar, junto a una ría, y al mar está profundamente ligada: pesca, puerto, turismo... la mayoría de los ingresos de la ciudad están relacionados con él.

It' s population is about 300,000 inhabitants and the best thing about Vigo is actually not in the city... it's in the sea: the Cies Islands. They are a national park and one of their beaches has been declared "best beach in the world" by The Guardian.Su población es alrededor de 300.000 habitantes y lo mejor de Vigo, en realidad, no está en la ciudad... está en el mar: las Islas Cíes. Son un parque nacional y una de sus playas fue declarada "mejor playa del mundo" por el diario británico The Guardian.

Here you can see Vigo's and the Cíes Islands' location... "North-West of Spain, on top of Portugal" :P (image from Wikipedia).Aquí podéis ver la localización de Vigo y las Islas Cíes... "al noroeste de España, encima de Portugal" :P (imagen de la Wikipedia).

Thursday, 24 July 2008

Playing music was the thing that I missed the most in Sweden. I can play again with my band, finally. We are recovering the time lost, working really hard :)Yet I did play sometimes in Sweden. One French guy had access to a high-school that had all the equipment that you can see on the picture... and more!! Maybe that's the reason why Sweden has so many good bands: they have really good equipment in regular schools for children to start playing.

Monday, 21 July 2008

I am talking today about the city (or town?) where I've lived almost one year. Karlstad is a small Swedish city (about 90,000 inhabitants) located next to the Vänern lake. This lake is the 3rd biggest in Europe, after two Russian ones. The city is located in a sort of triangle between Stockholm, Göteborg and Oslo, all of them at 3-4 hours of distance.Hoy os hablaré de la ciudad (¿o pueblo?) en el que he vivido casi un año. Karlstad es una pequeña ciudad sueca (alrededor de 90.000 habitantes) localizada al lado del lago Vänern. Este lago es el tercero más grande de Europa, después de dos lagos rusos. La ciudad se encuentra en una especie de triángulo entre Estocolmo, Gotenburgo y Oslo, todas ellas a unas 3-4 horas de distancia.

Some of my mates there who came from big cities said it was a boring place. That can be true. However, I came from a smaller town and I enjoyed its calm and beauty. There are plenty of things that you can do if you want. Klaralven is the name of the river that passes through the city, spliting into two parts at the end, creating really beautiful landscapes.Algunos de mis compañeros (generalmente, provenientes de ciudades grandes) decían que era un sitio aburrido. Puede que tuvieran razón. Sin embargo, yo venía de un sitio pequeño y me encantó la calma y belleza de la ciudad. Hay muchas cosas que puedes hacer si quieres, de todos modos. El nombre del río que pasa por el medio de la ciudad es Klaralven, que forma un estuario al final, creando paisajes muy bonitos.

-Lewis Hamilton is the driver that deserves the most (so far) this year's title. He was unlucky today with the safety car and, anyway, he fought and recovered the first position.-Kubica is no longer a candidate. BMW cars seem to be far from the top cars again.-Kimi needs to fight more.-Massa is, simply, a mediocre (or even horrible) driver. How come a Ferrari can be losing 1.5 seconds per lap against a McLaren in the same conditions??-It is a bit unfair that, after all Fernando Alonso fought in all the races and all that he has helped developing the car, it is Nelson Piquet who has made the first podium for Renault. The Brazilian driver has been really lucky but, anyway, congratulations for him.

Friday, 18 July 2008

The well-known "San Fermin" from Pamplona ended a few days ago... but we had our own in Galicia, too:Los conocidos San Fermines de Pamplona acabaron hace unos días... pero nosotros también tuvimos nuestros propios San Fermines en Galicia:

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Monday, 14 July 2008

I've had a special visit this weekend: Emily and Tony, friends that I met in Karlstad, are doing a road trip over Spain and Portugal and came by my home. They saw a bit of Vigo and of the Cies Islands. This picture is in front of Samil, Vigo's main beach.

Friday, 11 July 2008

I've found in an old piece of news (what a contradiction, isn't?) on the BBC that I made a new friend. As you can see on the picture, is a giant octopus, who likes to play with me because I am the best toy around.

Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Today's "Good Thing About Sweden" are bike lanes. They are everywhere! It was really surprising for me watching so many people riding bikes in Karlstad, especially in the winter when it was cold and snowed. They kept riding their bikes anyway.

These lanes are well signed, safe (they are quite separated from the road), and they take you wherever you want.

This is something that should be imitated by other countries (i.e. Spain), because it is good for the environment, for the people who wants to make some sport... Riding a bike in Spain is quite dangerous, instead of fun :S

Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Sunday, 6 July 2008

Great race today in Silverstone (as usual, when rain appears). Again, as it happened in Monaco, Hamilton won with a combination of skills and huge luck, and Alonso finished 6th, after a terrific race that was ruined -once again- by the horrible strategy of his team.

Alonso has demonstrated today that he is one of the best drivers under the rain. He was the fastest in the first laps, but the track started to get dried and that was against him. Then, he had to stop and his team decided not to change his tyres, believing that it wasn't going to rain any more and that the track was going to get drier... and in a couple of laps it started raining heavily. Another mistake for Renault's collection.

Alonso had to get stop once again to get new tyres, so his race was ruined and, although he made a great second part, he was unable to get the result that he deserved.

Some other things:Hamilton: Great race, I can't deny it. He didn't make any mistake despite of the track's conditions. Nevertheless, he took a huge risk driving as fast in the last laps as in the first one. He could have had a problem and lost 10 points.Massa: He showed the really bad driver that he is. The best part of Hamilton's victory is that Massa is no longer the championship leader. A driver that makes 5 spins in the same race doesn't deserve that position at all.Kubica: A pity that he went out of the track, he was making a great race and he could have recovered the first position in the championship.Raikonnen: Amazing how he could finish 4th after 3 spins and the same strategic problem than Alonso.

Wednesday, 2 July 2008

This is how I expend some time back at home now... making a huge and difficult puzzle! It has 3000 pieces, all of them in black and white, so it's really difficult to distinguish if one piece is from one part or the other :SWe are making progress, though.

About this blog and Mister Potato

For those who don't know me: I'm the oldest toy that is still being sold. I have a potato body where you can attach funny faces and combine them the way you want.
I've appeared in films (Toy Story, e.g.), I have plenty of different models, I've travelled a lot,...
I like to travel and I was an Erasmus in Sweden, that's the reason of "Herr Potatis", that is my name in Swedish.
This blog is written both in English and Spanish. In the posts, English goes in black, Spanish goes in blue.
Este blog es bilingüe, busca en las entradas el texto en azul para el español.